"I'm fine", he wiped his own venomous blood from his face and mumbled at Cornell, who was busy wiping bile from his own mouth, and turning to Ceres, "I'll take the back", he calmly announced and slinked further away from the companions, re-donning his goggles, and fingering Abak Loett's ring.
He unsheated his machete and unholstered his dart gun.
As Kiph followed the three, he felt worms crawling in his brain. Again, he looked at his palm, and then at Brevil who walked directly in front of him, and then at his palm again, and then in the direction of the Fangs of Divine Despair, where it had all began for him, all those years ago, he now realized, his insanity giving way temporarily to crystal clarity.
Wiping his hand on his pants, to avoid possibly poisoning the good doctor, he tapped Cornell's shoulder, as the quartet descended in Bleakwood. Riv was ahead, right behind Ceres, the pyromaniac's shoulders, tight, almost coiled, and looking ahead.
Once several dozen feet away from Ceres and Riv, Kiph said to Brevil,
"I know now. They came for me just now. JUST NOW", he seethed to keep himself from screaming. "They know where I am, even now, and they know how to get me. They came for me, they marked me. I made them go away" he smiled maniacally, "I forced them out. But i fear. I fear them. I CANNOT let them get me again. I CANNOT...ever again." he blurted, realizing he was babbling incomprehensibely.
"Tell me what you know, doctor. Tell me Everything. Tell me of the Last Gambit. Are you one of them? Please, tell me!" Tears came unbidden to Kiph's eyes, and for several seconds he stood shuddering and crying, looking to Brevil as a newborn pup to his new owner.
They began walking again, several dozen feet behind the other two, as Kiph awaited a responce.